AN ACT CONCERNING MUNICIPAL COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ARBITRATION AND THE APPOINTMENT OF ARBITRATORS TO THE ARBITRATION PANEL.

SUMMARY:

In a municipal interest arbitration case, the law requires a municipality's chief executive officer and a municipal employee union's executive head to each choose one member to serve on the three-member arbitration panel that decides the case.
Under current law, these two panel members then mutually select the third member from the panel of neutral arbitrators, who serves as chairperson.
This bill removes the municipality and union representatives' ability to select the third member and instead requires the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration (SBMA) to randomly assign an arbitrator from the panel of neutral arbitrators.

If either party fails to pick its respective member for the arbitration panel, the law requires the SBMA to pick a member for them, who must be a state resident.
The bill adds a requirement that the SBMA selection in these instances also be randomly chosen from the panel of neutral arbitrators.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
January 1, 2013

BACKGROUND

Panel of Neutral Arbitrators

By law, membership on the panel of neutral arbitrators requires unanimous approval from a 10-member Neutral Arbitrator Selection Committee appointed by the labor commissioner.
Membership on the selection committee must be evenly divided between members representing employee and municipal interests, with at least one representative of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
Neutral arbitrators, who must be state residents, serve two-year terms on the panel and must be unanimously reappointed by the selection committee.